By the time he got back to the apartment building, it was too late for him to surprise Criss. Even if he left that very moment, he would arrive in the middle of her last seminar. Waiting for her at the apartment was a much better choice. Maybe he'd cook something for the both of them. It would be a welcome change - provided he didn't ruin the food.

The building was more animated than he had ever seen it. Another three people were waiting for the elevator, all looking like they were coming home after a day of work - just like him. He nodded and mumbled a hello, just to be polite, not expecting a response. To his surprise, they all replied with smiles on their faces. They even made small talk about the weather, which was, in one man's opinion, still too warm for that time of year, while one woman expressed her longing for a white Christmas - whatever that was. He just nodded and agreed. Being treated as a normal person was one thing he might never get used to.

Each got off on their respective floors with a warm goodbye and a wave. He walked the length of the corridor, thinking of how curious it was that he could just blend into any crowd like he wasn't a monster hunter, a mutant, a freak. Just a normal man going home after a day of work. Home. An almost foreign concept since he never stayed in any place other than Kaer Morhen for long enough to become his home. With that thought in mind, he opened the apartment door and immediately felt traces of Criss's perfume lingering in the air. But there was something else accompanying it. A foreign scent that didn't belong in the house.

After hunting a vampire in an abandoned hall, alongside people he didn't particularly care for, for a man who distrusted him, he thought his day couldn't get any stranger. Apparently, he was mistaken. Someone had been in the apartment while they were away.

He focused his hearing, listening for any sound out of place, but all he could hear was the dull buzzing coming from the electronics. There was no one else in the house. Whoever had been there had already left. He checked the entire place, going from room to room, to see if the intruder stole anything. Everything was still in place, nothing was missing, despite pieces of jewellery being strewn over the dressing table, all in plain sight. For a moment he doubted himself; perhaps the cleaning company had sent someone that day and Criss forgot to mention it. But then again, that left a different scent in the air and the place wasn't any cleaner than it had been that morning. No, someone had broken in, he was sure of it. But what could they have wanted?

Not being able to solve the mystery of the intruder, he set out to do what he had originally planned - to shower and cook dinner.

He was still working on the food, chopping onions, when he felt the tether reform, long before he heard the door open and the familiar clinking of her car keys being dropped in the bowl next to the entrance. Hurried footsteps approached and he couldn't help a smile when he laid eyes on her. She dropped her bag on the nearest chair and smothered him in an embrace. Her hands coiled around his neck, weighing him down, drawing her to her lips. Energy flooded him instantly when one of her hands dropped to his chest to rest over his heart. Her kiss was intoxicating, and pulling away from her lips was something he was too weak to do. Only the need for air pried them apart.

"I missed you too," he teased her.

"How was your first day?" she asked with a smile.

"It was... I don't know... Strange? Complicated? Somewhat good, maybe?" He couldn't really find one word to sum up the whole day from beginning to end.

"Oh, that does sound complicated! Anything we need to worry about?"

"Maybe," he answered while checking on the steak before going back to chopping onions.

"I know you're not the loquacious type, but I'm going to need more details." She drummed her nails on the stone top, waiting for him to expand on his answer.

He smirked, amused by her impatience. "For starters, they don't trust me much. I got the same treatment as last time: blacked-out van and no phone. And the similarities didn't stop there. They've assigned me to work with the team that caught us. With the man who hit you."

He paused, checking to see if the news upset her and, although she grimaced, she waved her hand, signalling him to continue.

"The building they took me to was a near copy of the one where they held us, but it wasn't the same place. Aside from the people present during the interrogation, I only met two other men working for them. And I'm sure if they could have avoided it, I wouldn't have seen them either. They're trying to keep me from learning too much and I'm not sure if it's some special distrust or simply the way they welcome new recruits."

"But they've been agreeable to you?"

"Somewhat. The team all acted friendly, but never let me out of their sights. I'm not sure what to make of the Director just yet. On one hand, he seems genuinely concerned about avoiding unnecessary killing or hurting innocent bystanders. On the other hand, his words concealed veiled threats. He gave me some story about a massacre that happened due to hiring mercenaries for this job. In retrospect, my choice to play a cold-blooded cutthroat might not have been the best, and now I'm trying to make nice as much as I can. Even gave them the recipe for Moon Dust. With it, they might actually stand a chance against your usual moola, alpor or bruxa."

He divided the food onto plates and set the table, then continued recounting the day's events over dinner.

"They apologized for their mistreatment of you. The Director argued he needed to see what moves me. To see that I'm not uncaring. Of course, it's all horseshit. He simply needed a tool to blackmail me into working for them. To know which buttons to push to get me to do what he wants. And don't worry, I'm still thinking of a way to extract you from this mess."

"I don't think there's any way to do that at the moment, so you should put it out of your mind for now. Besides, if you like the job, then the risk is worth it for me."

He wanted to tell her about his worry, that these vampires differed from the ones he hunted back home, but changed his mind. She didn't need the extra burden of his moral dilemmas. If one woman's death had brought her to tears, telling her he was killing creatures who could be reasoned with might send her on another tailspin. No, he couldn't do that to her. This was something he would shoulder himself and she didn't need to know about it.

"It's fulfilling," he lied. "Today I kept two of my teammates from being slashed by an alpor, but I must admit that it took a toll on me. I was lightheaded afterwards, and it only got worse from there. In the end, I fell asleep on a bench in their gym and they had to shake me awake. And I had the strangest dream; it felt like one of your…" He swallowed his words as her hand pressed over his mouth.

"Sorry, I've the sudden urge to get some fresh air. Care to join me for a walk?" Her brow furrowed and her expression turned very serious. He had never known her to be impolite out of a whim, so he assumed she had good reason to silence him. Clearly, there was more behind her request than a simple desire to get some fresh air.

"Sure. Right after dinner." He eyed her suspiciously. "Unless you hate the food and that's why…"

"No." She laughed, and he softened under the light sound of her giggling. "The food is great. Delicious even! Thank you for cooking. We'll go as soon as we've finished eating."

Suddenly, he became very aware that he had been the only one talking. He hadn't even asked her how her day had been.

"Did you speak to Elly today? Does she know who the redhead was?"

"Yes, her name is Amanda Rice. She works for Build Core, one of the largest developers in the country. Elly surmised she was looking for big investors for their new project. Incidentally, that's the exact project me and my brother are involved in. Of course, I couldn't straight-out ask Elly if the woman was still alive or not - she probably wouldn't have known anyway. However, I plan to ask Andy if he knows her. Maybe I can get her contact from him and try to arrange a meeting under the pretence of offering my help to sway undecided investors. Her office will tell me if she's in or not and the mystery will be solved."

"You still think she might be alive?"

"You're the one who said that not all vampires drink blood out of necessity. They do it for the sheer pleasure of it and treat it the same way we do alcohol. Maybe that higher vampire didn't drink her empty, maybe there's still a chance…"

He clasped her hand and brushed her knuckles with his thumb, hesitant to shatter her hopes, but knowing he needed to tell her the truth. Prepare her for the most likely outcome.

"Just don't get your hopes up. Chances are, she's dead. Even if she's still alive, they wouldn't let her go back to work. When vampires let their victims live, they corral them like livestock. They don't let them roam around going about their normal business with fang marks on their necks."

"It won't do any harm if I ask around, so I might as well just do it. It bothers me that we couldn't help her, and I want to know what happened to her."

"It won't do harm to anyone else, but... What will happen when you finally accept that she got her throat ripped out? I don't want to see you break down in tears again."

She cringed. Maybe talking about ripped out throats was not the best choice of words. As usual, he was being too harsh and instantly regretted it. He decided to not press the issue further.

After dinner, they went for some fresh air, as he had promised. Once they were out of the building and walking down the street on their way to the park, he asked her why she had silenced him.

"I got this odd feeling down the back of my neck, telling me you were about to do or say something wrong. It's not something that happens often, but when it does, I've learned to listen to it."

"I think I know what you're talking about. I get the same feeling whenever there's danger around. Do you still have it now?"

She shook her head. "No, not right now. Maybe if you continue where you left off, you were telling me about a dream you had."

"Yes, I believe I was about to say it was a strange dream. It had the feel of your constructs. Like it was real and unreal at the same time. I was floating in vast nothingness, pitch black all around me, with only a faint glow emanating from myself. My body was slowly decomposing and fading while shadows danced around me. I felt the urge to reach out into the darkness…"

"I hope you didn't!" She caught his arm and looked distressed for a moment before recomposing herself. "No, of course you didn't. You wouldn't be standing here otherwise. Sorry. Go on with your story."

"To be honest, I almost did. I would have, if a man hadn't stopped me. He appeared out of nowhere, grabbed my arm. He said something strange about a sacrifice and called himself a guardian."

"Did he have long, braided hair and indigo eyes?"

"Mhm. So I take it you know him."

"That was Sama," she answered his unspoken question. "I asked him to keep you safe, to make sure you'd come back in one piece. I must remember to thank him for keeping his word, not that I ever doubted he would. Was that all?"

"Not quite. I'm not sure if this is good or not, but he infused me with energy much in the way you do, but it didn't feel the same. It wasn't warm and gentle, it felt like cold raw power, but it got me on my feet and out of the stupor I was in."

"Don't worry about that. All conduits filter the energy that passes through them, leaving behind an imprint, like a calling card. He has a tendency to be harsh sometimes, that must be what you felt."

"It wasn't a bad feeling, just different. Still, I think I like your calling card much more."

She giggled. "Flatterer."

"Did the warning feeling come back?"

She shook her head. "Did he say anything else?"

"Yes. It was something strange about a sacrifice." He had to think for a moment. "Your sacrifice is still needed. Those were his exact words. Has he said anything of the sort to you?"

She nodded. "It's his way of saying you need to remain alive a while longer."

"Odd choice of words."

"It might be for us, but not for them. They see this life bound to flesh and bone bodies as a sacrifice. Something they would do only for a selfless and important reason. I can only guess that whatever task they assigned you is still not done."

"Still, sacrifice sounds so ominous. I wouldn't call my life easy, but it's not unpleasant." His arm wrapped low around her waist. "Some aspects of it are very enjoyable."

"I appreciate the sentiment, and you know I love you too, but you're missing the point."

"Which is?"

"It's confirmation you've an important job to do. He's never wrong. I suspect he can see the strings of the Plan pulling events and people together, but he's never outward about it. He only gives me hints and subtle guidance. And I'm the first to admit it's annoying, but it's better than nothing. He's also told me I'm still needed and I'll soon know why."

"Then maybe we'll know soon what all the fuss is about."

"Yes, soon." She laughed. "I've found that soon is a very relative term for Sama. So I don't know how soon it'll be, but he hasn't ever lied to me, and we can trust that more will be revealed at some point. That was all he said?"

Geralt nodded. "Still no foreboding feeling?"

"No. I still don't understand what it was linked to."

"Is it possible you were mistaken? Maybe it meant nothing."

"No, there's no chance." She thought for a moment. "Did anything else happen today? Anything at all? However unimportant it may seem."

"There was something. I wasn't sure if I should tell you. I don't want to alarm you, but I think it's better if you know."

"What?"

"Someone broke into the apartment while we were away. Their smell still lingered in the air when I got back, so it was recent."

"Oh, my! But the apartment looked fine when I got home. You put everything back where it was?"

"I didn't have to."

She frowned, confused. "Did they steal anything?"

"That's the strange part. Nothing appeared to be missing and if my nose hadn't picked up the smell, I wouldn't even have known anyone had been there. Not only did they not take anything, but they also didn't move anything. It's as if they walked in, looked around and left. Why would anyone do that?"

They kept on walking, silent and deep in thought.

"Perhaps they weren't there to take something, but to leave something behind," she said.

"Like what?"

"Surveillance equipment. My guess is your new boss is watching you closely. You've already correctly surmised that he doesn't trust you, so it's not unexpected that his next step would be to plant cameras and microphones in the house. That could explain my reaction. It wasn't due to something you were about to say to me, it was because of something they were about to overhear."

The idea of being under constant watch made him bristle. It was invasive and unacceptable.

"When we get back, I'll search the house and get rid of whatever they planted."

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'? You're fine with them watching and listening to us?"

"I'm not, not at all. But I don't think it would be wise to remove their devices. It would just let them know that we have something to hide. Make them distrust you even more. Instead, we'll leave them where they are and go on about our lives as usual. We just won't speak about magic inside the house."

"What about... You know..." He threw her a knowing look.

"Sex?" she asked with a smile and raised an eyebrow.

He nodded. "It's not like I mind them seeing my ass, but I don't like the idea of some lecherous creep watching me fuck you. I don't want you being treated as cheap entertainment by anyone. And if you prefer I don't touch you, I'll respect your wishes."

"I appreciate you having my honour in mind, but as I said, we'll go on about our business as usual, and that includes our sex life. I don't care if they watch. Quite frankly, I don't think that's what they're watching us for."